There were four attempts to create a California Historical Society: in 1871, from 1886 to 1891, from 1902 to 1906, and, finally, in 1922, when it was permanently founded by C. Templeton Crocker, the grandson of Charles Crocker. In 1979 the organization was named the official state historical society, in a bill signed by Governor Jerry Brown. In 1993 it purchased and moved into its current headquarters, the former San Francisco Builders Exchange Building. The Society is a privately funded nonprofit organization that produces original exhibitions; maintains a collection of historical documents, photographs, art and other research materials; hosts educational events; and awards the annual California Historical Society Book Prize. The Society publishes California History, an academic journal, in association with the University of California Press. The Society occasionally hosts C-SPAN lectures on California history.
Exhibitions
Recent exhibitions at the California Historical Society's San Francisco headquarters include:
A Wild Flight of the Imagination: The Story of the Golden Gate Bridge on the occasion of the 75th Anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge
I See Beauty in this Life: A Photographer Looks at 100 Years of Rural California
The California Historical Society Collection represents the environmental, economic, social, political, and cultural heritage of the state of California, including materials from outside California that contribute to a greater understanding of the state and its people. The collection includes 50,000 volumes of books and pamphlets; 4,000 manuscript collections; 500,000 photographs; printed ephemera, periodicals, posters, broadsides, maps, and newspapers; the Kemble Collection on Western Printing and Publishing; 5,000 works of art, including paintings, drawings, and lithographs; and numerous artifacts and costumes.
This collection consists of a wide range of ephemera pertaining to the state of California and each of its constituent counties. Dating from 1841 the collection includes ephemera created by or related to churches; civic associations and activist groups; clubs and societies, especially fraternal organizations; labor unions; auditoriums and theaters; historic buildings, landmarks, and museums; hotels and resorts; festivals and fairs; sporting events; hospitals, sanatoriums, prisons, and orphanages; schools, colleges, and universities; government agencies; elections, ballot measures, and political parties; infrastructure and transit systems; geographic features; and other subjects. In 1964, former Society president, printing historian, and collector George L. Harding founded the Kemble Collection on Western Printing and Publishing, named in honor of pioneer California printer and publisher Edward Cleveland Kemble. Dedicated to the history of printing and publishing in the West, this collection began with three major gifts—Harding's printing and publishing library, William E. Loy's typographical library, and the business archives of San Francisco printing firm Taylor & Taylor—and has since grown in size and scope.
